Water's Edge Art Walk and Talk with Libby Reuter

About this event

Inspired by the rocks that hikers stack to mark a trail, Reuter assembles tall sculptures, or cairns, to mark water’s path from land to stream, river, or wetland, and ultimately, to the Gulf of Mexico.

The cairns appear to be blown-glass, but a closer look reveals stacked bowls, ashtrays, vases, and lamp parts that she purchased at thrift stores and yard sales. She and Joshua Rowan pack a van with glass cairn segments and look for locations on land or in the water that will tell the story of the Mississippi River watershed.

A cairn is assembled to suit the site, and Rowan photographs it from many different angles to capture the light refracted in the glass sculpture, creating a luminous image. The cairn is removed after it is photographed and stored with the photographic prints for later exhibition. Each image is identified by its address, latitude and longitude, and information about the watershed at that location.

At dawn on August 8, 2018 they created three images at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, completing the first portion of their project. In summer 2019, they will continue making Watershed Cairns® images, following the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Confluence Cairn is about 80” tall, 14” wide at its widest point. It rests on a 28” diameter heavy glass plinth that is 4.5” tall bringing the overall height to 84” weighing 50 – 60 Pounds. It will be moved inside the Center after the Opening Reception.

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